Page 24 - Records of Bahrain (4) (i)_Neat

14 Records of Bahrain

to your benefit and that you are reasonably content with it.
One thing no one will deny, that since Shaikh 'Isa, in h 1 s
wisdom, entrusted foreign cases to the Political Agent, the
number of foreigners, their wealth, importance and weight in
the community has increased in a manner that is little short
of amazing. It does not seem as if people would flock here

to the extent they do, if they were dissatisfied under the
conditions under which they live. Shaikh Hamad, however,
expressly authorises me to say that he will welcome comments
and criticism and that he will lend a sympathetic ear to all
that may tend to increase the wealth, comford and general
well-being of the town of Manameh in which foreigners pre­
ponderate to such an extent that it may almost be said to
have been made by them.
Gentlemen, I have kept you an unreasonable time
and yet no speech in Bahrain would be complete without a
word on the subject that must ever be uppermost in the minds
of those who live in Bahrain - the pearl trade. It is the
source of the wealth of these Islands. It furnishes the
reason why foreigners flock here in such numbers and build

fine houses and on it are founded the prosperity, cleanliness
and well-being of Manameh. And yet, I know, the Political
Agent knows, Shaikh Hamad knows, the Qazi, Shaikh Jasim bin
Mehza, and you all know, and above all, the divers know that
it is the plague spot of these Islands. VJe all know that
labour is in a position little short of lifelong slavery and
that trickery, fraud and oppression are rampant in the Trade;

and what are any of us doing to remove these evils ? It is
almost impossible to get respectable paxsaxs people to serve
in the Salifa Court, Nakhodas steadily refuse to produce their
accounts; if they did, divers, who are dumb driven cattle,
would not understand them; and yet, who cares or gives real
thought to all this suffering ? You can register divers, you
can even reform the Salifa Court, you can imprison Nakhodas,
compel them to furnish accounts, and yet, even in that way

you will not go far. You must begin at the bottom with the
lowest